


r^ 



? S'c 



HISTORY 



AND 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



PocuMTUCK Valley 
Memorial Association. 

1890-1898. 




VOL. III. 
DEERFIELD, MASS., U. S. A. 



PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION. 

1901. 



HISTORY 



AND 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



PocuMTucK Valley 

•1 

Memorial Association. 

1890-1898. 




VOL. III. 

DEERFIELD, MASS., U. S. A. 



PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION. 

1901. 



r 



REPORT. 

Vol. III. of our History and Proceedings is now laid before you. It 
covers a period of nine years — 1890-1898. Compelled by circum- 
stances, this volume contains about forty pages more than either 
Vols. I. or II. It has been edited by the Chairman of the Committee 
of Publication, and he is responsible for all its shortcomings. The edi- 
tion is limited to 300 copies. 

Respectfully submitted, 



Deerfield, February, 1901. 





ELEOTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY 
T. MOREY & SON, QREENFIELD, MASS. 



/ 



CONTENTS. 



I. Annual Meeting, 1890, i_i2 

Autobiography and Journal, Goodhue — Notes on Canada, 

Baker — Address, Buckingham. 

II. Field Meeting, 1890, Shelburne, 13-42 

Address of Welcome, Mansfield — Response, Sheldon — • 

Reminiscences, Bardwell — List of Revolutionary Soldiers 

— Severance Family, Severance — Martin Severance, 

Sheldon — Poem, Tupper — History of Franklin Academy, 

Pratt. 

III. Annual Meeting, 1891, 43-88 
Memoir of Hon. Joseph White, Crawford — Gen. James S. 

Whitney, Lamb — Poem, Bartlett — Thankful Stebbins, 
Baker — Bibliographical Notes of Deerfield, Eels. 

IV. Field Meeting, 1891, Bernardston, 89-115 
Address of Welcome, Barber — Response, Lamb — Ode, 

Lincoln — Settlement of Bernardston, Kellogg — Poem, 
Canning — Addresses, Pierce, Parsons. 
V. Annual Meeting, 1892, 1 16-129 

Old Time Traffic and Travel on the Connecticut, Sheldon. 
VL Field Meeting, 1892, Charlemont, 130-154 

Address of Welcome, Whiting — Response, Lamb — Poem, 
Hayden — Historic Oak, Whiting — Some Reminiscences 
of Charlemont History, Hawks — Address, Warner. 
VII. Annual Meeting, 1893, 155-174 

Publication of History of Deerfield — The Source of the 
Free School, Parsons — Sweet Vale of Pocumtuck, Smith. 
VIII. Field Meeting, 1893, Gill, 175-213 

Address of Welcome, Pratt — Response, Thompson — His- 
torical Address, Walker — Addresses, Finch, Sheldon — 
Historical Paper, Baker — Addresses, Lyman, Wolcott, 
Atkins, Stoughton, Chapin, Goodrich. 
IX. Annual Meeting, 1894, 214-248 

The Hearthstone, Yale — Old Deerfield Cannon, Sheldon — 
Biographical Sketch of Epaphras Hoyt, Eels. 

(iii) 



iv Contents. 

X. Field Meeting, 1894, Greenfield, 249-272 

Granite Watering Trough — Dedicatory Address, Sheldon 
— Old Meetinghouse, Corss — Historical Address, Thomp- 
son. 
XI. Annual Meeting, 1895, 273-295 

Poem, Hawks — Connecticut River, Miller — Poem, Bartlett 
— Some Phases of our New England Institutions, Fes- 
senden. 
XII. Field Meeting, 1895, Montague, 296-332 

Address of Welcome, Richardson — Response, Sheldon — 
Historical Address, Clapp — Poem, Rockwell — Williams 
Bible, Baker. 
XIII. Annual Meeting, 1896, 333-362 

A York Family, Baker — Poem, Eels — Public Spirit, Atkins 
— A New England Village, Whiting. 
XIV. Field Meeting, 1896, Fort Dummer, 363-396 

Plan of Fort Dummer — Address of Welcome, Holton — 
Response, Sheldon — Historical Address, Walker — Poem, 
Smith — Fort Sartwell, Reed — Addresses, Lord, Fuller. 
XV. Annual Meeting, 1897, 397-433 

Poem, Canning — Dr. Slade and the Old Indian House 
Door, Finch — Sanguinaria, Allen — Biographical Sketch 
of John Russell, Russell — The New England Confed- 
eracy of 1643, Smith — Maj. John Burke, Kellogg. 
XVI. Field Meeting, 1897, Northfield, 434-467 

Address of Welcome, Scofield — Response, Sheldon — The 
Old Oak, Callender — Report on Memorial Stones, Wood 
— Poem, Eels — Historical Address, Piper — Addresses, 
Mead, Parsons, Wheeler. 

XVII. Annual Meeting, 1898, 468-501 
Presentation Addresses, Thompson — Ode, Saxton — 'Tis 

Sixty Years Since, Sheldon — First Parish of Sunderland, 
Smith. 

XVIII. Field Meeting, 1898, Colrain, 502-547 
Report of Committee on Monuments, Howard — Address of 

Welcome, Griswold — Response, Sheldon, Thompson — 

Colrain's Early Days, McClellan — The American Citizen 

Soldier Old and New, Parsons — Address, Lawrence. 

XIX. List of Officers and Members. 549 

XX. Index, 553 



52 Annual Meeting — 1891. 

GEN. JAMES S. WHITNEY. 

BY SAMUEL O. LAMB, ESQ. 

James S. Whitney was, for many years, one of the most active, 
enterprising, energetic and successful business men, and one of the 
most prominent, influential and highly respected citizens of Frank- 
lin county. He was also called, from time to time, to high posi- 
tions in his party, and in the State and National governments, 
which widely extended knowledge of his name and reputation 
through his own State and the country. It is therefore eminently 
proper that there should be some memorial of him in the proceed- 
ings of this Association in which he ever felt a warm interest, and 
of which he was a life member. 

I do not propose, on this occasion, to'attempt to give a full and 
complete history of the life and services of Gen. Whitney. The 
time allotted to me in the exercises of this evening will permit only 
a brief sketch and a few reminiscences of his active, varied, inter- 
esting and honorable private and public career. 

My acquaintance with Gen. Whitney began in 1 844, when I was 
a student in the law office of the late Hon. Whiting Griswold in 
Greenfield. It became more intimate after I assumed, in 1845, 
the editorial charge of the Democratic county paper, of which he 
was a generous supporter, and soon grew into a friendship whose 
ties remained unbroken till the day of his death. Our respective 
views of duty led us on different lines in the presidential election 
of i860, but that temporary divergence of opinion on a political 
question never interfered with our friendly personal relations. 
We met for the last time on this side of the grave only a few days 
before his sudden departure, and the impression of his hearty grasp, 
his cordial greeting and kind words is still clear and bright on the 
page of memory. 

James S. Whitney was born in that part of Deerfield then called 
"Bloody Brook," now South Deerfield, May 19, 181 1. He was a 
son of Stephen Whitney, Esq., formerly of Nelson, N. H., a promi- 
nent merchant at Bloody Brook, and a man highly respected and 
esteemed in the community in which he lived. He was the repre- 
sentative from Deerfield in the General Court in the years 1834 
and 1835. In 1834, he was Monitor of the first division of the 
House and a member of the Committee on Accounts. He was 



The Source of the Free School. 163 

Four years after the landing Governor Bradford speaks of the 
school as about to supersede the family teaching. And from this 
time forward education became a charge of the government, first 
the local as we find it in the town records, then general, as it ap- 
pears in the early statutes. 

The year 1636 found 3,000 or 4,000 emigrants from the mild 
southern counties of old England dwelling in sixteen towns and 
hamlets on the sandy shores of Massachusetts Bay. The year has 
double interest to us because it was that in which the western ex- 
tending line reached the Connecticut valley and because it opens 
the volume of the legislative enactment. These people had en- 
dured untold hardships, had known as yet nothing but scarcity, 
reaching at times almost to famine, and while the most religious 
people under heaven they had only been able to provide for wor- 
ship in the town of Boston by a house built with mud walls and a 
roof thatched with straw.* Yet these people grasped the educa- 
tional problem on the highest side. Not beginning with the pri- 
mary instruction their poverty would permit, they, in their General 
Court, on the 28th day of the eighth month, agreed to give 
" ;^400 towards a school or college, ;£200 to be paid the next year, 
;;^200 when the work is finished." The 2d of the ninth month 
the college is ordered to be at Newton, that part of which soon, 
because of the college, became Cambridge. Harvard College had 
come into being, and out of the little means of the struggling 
towns it was grandly supported. Dr. Dwight has said, " It is a 
question whether a more honorable specimen of public spirit can 
be found in the history of mankind," The towns throughout the 
colony gave according to — rather, far beyond — their means, and 
persons aided it with a wonderful munificence. To give to Har- 
vard became then the ruling impulse of the Massachusetts will- 
maker and has remained the Bostonian ideal of public bequest. 
The dollar of their giving was not the dollar of our day. It was 
equivalent to several now, and the grant of the colony to the col- 
lege, equal to fifty cents on each person was a serious tax. The 
generosity of John Harvard placed the capstone on the monument 
to the lofty impulse of these people holding an uncertain lodgment 
on the edge of a continent amid dangers fully realized and with no 
abundance of means, but determined to face greater privation, if 
need be, to keep alive inducements to the common culture. There 
was no concession to easy scholarship in the rules with which the 

* Education in Massachusetts. Address by George B. Emerson, February i6, 1869. 



Historical Paper ly C. Alice Baker. 203 

As we ploughed through these great drifts up and down, there 
was no sound but that of the sand sifting through our wheels, and 
the sad murmur of the pines. At the foot of a tall black cross, 
planted in the yellow expanse of the plateau — an oasis in the 
desert — knelt a group of pilgrims on their way to the mountain 
chapel of Calvary. 

As we struck into the primeval forest Jean Baptiste began to 
chatter with the volubility of a Frenchman. " Void la ptopri^td 
die paiivre Ignace ! " " This is the estate of poor Ignace ! " he 
cried. " This road the captive made with his own hands." When 
we came in sight of the house, his excitement was intense. " Marche, 
done vite ! " " Go on quick ! " he shouted to his horse, and to me, 
*♦ Voi/d la vieille maison, la maison d' Ignace ! oh, que je V aitne !'^ 
" There is the old house, Ignace's house ! oh, how I love it ! " And 
it was " voild " this, and " voild " that, and finally " Voild le bdbd ! " 
as the little toddling thing met us at the kitchen door — and here 
we were, under the very roof-tree of the two captives. I shall not 
attempt to describe my feelings. I was dazed and overwhelmed 
with memories of the far-off past. Mr. Raizenne's pretty wife and 
old mother received us without embarrassment, and urged us to 
prolong our visit. We drank to the memory of the captives, and 
to the health and prosperity of their descendants, in wine made 
from vines originally planted by Ignace. We tasted water from 
his well ; we ate apples from the sole survivor of his orchard. The 
climax of the afternoon's enjoyment for Jean Baptiste was reached 
when he presented to us his only son, a chubby boy of nine, named 
Riseing Raizenne. After taking a photograph of the place, and 
leaving little Guilhelmine in tears at our departure, we drove back 
to the village. 

The peace and quiet of the convent were grateful after the ex- 
citing emotions of the afternoon. We begged Mother des Anges 
not to condemn us to another solitary meal, and, after some hesi- 
tation, she kindly allowed us to take our tea with the nuns. 
Loyalty to our hostess forbids me to dwell on the spiritual and 
material delights of that repast. 

In New England, the sunset hour is usually marked by an out- 
burst of noise from the youth of the village — not so at Oka. The 
whole place shows the sobering, orderly influence of the little 
Christian community in its midst. We sat on the doorsteps of the 
convent, talking low with the Sisters. The soft air was redolent 
"with the odors of heliotrope and mignonette from the garden below 



The Hearthstone. 227 

buoyant youths of his own age, and a few books. He had never seen 
a picture or sculpture of any kind when the suggestions from the 
head of a blind man to whom he read Swedenborg filled him with 
dim longings and dreams. It was a long road from this first effort, 
with a piece of sheet for a canvas and paints from a house painter, 
to his final fame. An enumeration of his works will tell his story : 
The equestrian statue of Washington in Union Square, New York 
city ; statue of Gen. Greene in the capitol in Washington ; Abra- 
ham Lincoln in New York ; Abraham Lincoln in Brooklyn ; 
equestrian statue of Gen. Scott in Washington ; statue of Gen. 
Greene, Washington ; statue of Gen. Carney, New Jersey ; statue 
of Gen. Stockton, New Jersey ; statue of De Witt Clinton, capitol, 
Washington. These national and state commissions were many 
of them given during the late war, or soon after. But before this 
heroic period Mr. Brown held a foremost place as an artist of 
peculiarly vigorous American quality, matured by long study in 
Italy and association in our own country with the scholars, phi- 
losophers and statesmen of his period. But above all other con- 
siderations in art Mr. Brown insisted on fidelity to our own type 
of character, our own time and country, and he did great service 
in an art commission formed in Washington to promote those ideas. 
People in Deerfield need not to be reminded of the fame of their 
townsman, George Fuller, the memorial of whose life by Howells 
adds peculiar interest to the many honorable records in the annals 
of this association. He was the son of a farmer environed with 
these romantic levels in our Deerfield meadows called The Bars. 
He had the eye and temperament to see in the successive seasons 
of morning and evening mists figures so transmuted, softened, 
blended and harmonized by this local enchantment of haze, forever 
after it became a part of his beauty and fidelity of expression. 
This was his art in its utmost truth of perception and ideal sensi- 
tiveness. He knew all schools, romanticism, realism, impression- 
ism, and whatever new whim creates a "school," and doubtless 
tried many of them, but always to turn back to Nature's own 
secret which she revealed to him in his youth in his own environ- 
ment, on the sacred meadows his feet trod, his heart loved, and 
his eye knew, with a much finer nerve than can be characterized 
by a name. But we must add the hearthstone as a factor in his 
education. It is still to be seen in the old dining-room at The 
Bars. It was a witty family that gathered around the blaze of that 
hearth. They were readers and loved music, and George Fuller, 



Address ly Francis M. ThoTrvpson. 265 

Time will not permit me to tell you of the growth of the new 
town, its struggle for existence during the second French and 
Indian War, and its part in the war for indepehdence. 

At its incorporation Greenfield had only 192 inhabitants, and 
included what is now Gill. In 1763 the population had increased 
to 368, and at the commencement of the Revolution there were 
probably about 500 people within her bounds. 

Greenfield, like other New England towns, considered it to be 
her first duty to settle a minister, and promptly made choice of 
Rev. Edward Billings. Meetings were for a season held at his 
house, — Old Fort Stocking, — and in 1754 the town "voted 
that the committee for passing men's bills agree with Joseph Sev- 
erance for drumming the year past on the Sabbath." The com- 
mittee allowed him ^4 10^., and probably thought this too 
expensive, for they made an arrangement with James Corss to 
pay him £2 " for his house to meet in on the Sabbath, and other 
necessary meetings, he giving the signal to meet." His house 
stood where the Hovey mansion now is, and his signal was a blast 
upon a conch shell. In December, 1759, the town "voted to 
build a meetinghouse this year, 45 feet long and 35 feet wide, upon 
the spot where the General Court hath prefixt it, and to shingle, 
rough board and glaze it, and lay the under floor, and make the 
doors." In 1760, another vote was passed to build, the size hav- 
ing increased to 40 by 50 feet. The house was erected and 
closed in between 1760 and 1764, but it had no pews or slips 

until 1773- , , , 

The seating of the meetinghouse in those days was a problem 
that required the utmost tact and careful management. The 
jealousies and heart-burnings among neighbors because of the seat 
they occupied in the synagogue was something to be dreaded. 
December 4, 1775, the town "voted to seat the meetinghouse by 
age and estate, each man to model his estate as he sees fit in his 
own family. The first three in the list shall have their first choice 
in the pews ; they that choose the Great Pew, or either of the 
north corner pews, shall have the next on the list put in with 
them, and so till we get through the house." " Voted that one 
year's age shall be equal to three pounds in estate." " Voted that 
those people that do not come to choose their seat at the time 
appointed, the committee shall seat them." " Voted that males 
be seated from sixteen years and upwards, and females from four- 
teen years and upwards." 



Some Phases of Our New England Institutions. 285 

The kindly preacher, staunch and true, and steadfast as the rock, 
Whose certain faith no wavering doubt had any power to shock ; 
The gentle, sweet and gifted soul who bore the Martha's part 
By constant toil for those she loved, with all her tender heart, 
Who was so great in mind and soul that she could only see 
Greatness in all things but herself, in meek humility. 
Full many a sturdy yeoman, too, and many a gentle dame, 
Have to this old society bequeathed a worthy fame, 
Who live in all our memories and merit all our praise. 
But cast a shade of sadness on these anniversaiy days. 
Then let us count our treasures flown, our loss is but their gain, 
And prize with loving tenderness the dear ones who remain, 
Trusting that each, as time goes on, as we grow old and gray, 
Will prize with growing joy and pride the great P. V. M. A. 



SOME PHASES OF OUR NEW ENGLAND 
INSTITUTIONS. 

BY FRANKLIN G. FESSENDEN. 

To-day as we enjoy ownership of lands in our towns, and carry 
on our self-government of such great importance, rarely do we 
think of the difficulties encountered by our ancestors in securing 
these blessings. We say without fear of contradiction, that we 
own our lands absolutely and in fee. We come together in town 
meetings, and, without question as to our right, pass votes con- 
cerning the welfare and property of each other. It is well for us 
who inherit the privileges, to call to mind how our forefathers ob- 
tained them. 

What is the story of our titles to lands .? How did this right of 
local self-government come into existence } 

First, as to titles of lands. 

It should be borne in mind, that our ancestors looked to the un- 
written law of England — the common law — for their guidance. 
A well-settled rule of law was, that the title to all land was held 
from the crown. 

" The King is the universal lord and original proprietor of all 
the lands in his kingdom, and no man doth or can possess any part 
of it, but what has, mediately or immediately, been derived from 
him. . . ." 

As in England, all the land is held from the crown, so, in the 
colonies, the title of land was from the crown, either by actual or 
constructive grant. 



406 Annual Meeting — 1897. 

monument stands which was erected to the memory of our fallen heroes, who fell in 
the late rebellion. 

2. That it shall be kept in a situation where it will be accessible to all who take 
an interest in the many trials and sufferings of the founders of Pocumptuck, alias 
Deerfield. 

3. This bill of sale shall be recorded on the book of records of Deerfield, and the 
bill kept with the deeds to the town of Deerfield. 

4. Whenever a vacancy occurs in this board of trustees, either by resignation or 
death, the same shall be filled by the remaining trustees, within thirty days after the 
vacancy occurs ; and the name of said trustee, so chosen, shall be reported to the 
town clerk, to be entered on the town books. 

At the same meeting of Deerfield citizens already referred to, 
held February 6, 1868, to take measures for welcoming back to 
Deerfield the Old Indian House door, the following committee of 
arrangements was chosen for the purpose, to wit : Rev. Dr. Craw- 
ford, Rev. G. H. Hosmer, George Sheldon, J. H. Stebbins, Mrs. C. 
W. Hoyt and Mrs. William Sheldon. 

Under their direction and management a festival was held at the 
town hall, on the evening of Friday, February 28, 1868, the eve 
of the anniversary of the sacking of the town, which was a success 
both socially and financially. The hall was filled with people. The 
entertainment, both in a material and literary point of view, was 
rich and abundant. A full account of the event can be found in 
the Greenfield Gazette and Courier of March 2, 1868, of which the 
following is a condensed statement : 

Behind the speaker's stand was the venerable old door, exhibiting its honorable 
scars before the people, as did the Roman heroes of old, with its rude iron knocker 
and stout iron latch and hinges. It looked as though vvith proper care it could out- 
live generation upon generations yet to come. Over it was appropriately draped the 
American flag, and here, too, was the old horse-shoe found over the door when the 
house was taken down, put there as a preventive against witchcraft. In a small room 
•was a collection of relics, and a lady and gentleman dressed in full Indian costumes, 
which had been actually worn by the savages. The fatal bullet which killed Mrs. 
Sheldon at the attack on the Indian house, was exhibited, and also the three original 
deeds, which were given when the town of Deerfield was purchased. After refresh- 
ments had been served, Dr. Crawford made a few remarks, welcoming back the old 
door to Deerfield, where it would ever henceforth be kept. He then read the bill of 
sale from Dr. Slade to the board of trustees who were to take charge of the door, 
and the conditions on which it was purchased. He told why the door went away, 
and how by its absence, the people found out how much they prized it, and again he 
welcomed it back, and the people assembled on the occasion. He then introduced 
the Rev. J. F. Moors of Greenfield, who delivered the historical address. Mr. J. D. 
Canning of Gill, the peasant Bard, read a poem. 

Dr. Slade the late owner of the door, was then called upon, and commenced his 
remarks by an amusing parody on the "House that Jack Built," applying it to the old 
door He had felt that the door had belonged to Deerfield, but if he had not carried 
it away there would have been no occasion for the happy event of that evening. He 
told how he had treasured the old relic — the Unk uniting the present with the past 



408 Annual Meeting— 1S97. 



SANGUINARIA. 

BY FRANCES S. ALLEN. 

The tender grass of April is pricking through the brown, 

On all the windy meadows that gird the gray old town, 

Where, long ago, the fathers wrought stoutly in the field 

With the plowshare and the pruning-hook, but kept the spear and shield. 

Then, Death lay in the thicket and waited on the crown 
Of hills to which they looked — to see the wily foe sweep down, 
But where the savage whirlwind passed, to-day, a little maid 
Goes wandering down the deep-ridged path, singing and unafraid. 

And all the spreading field which the silent brook creeps round, 
Deep shrinking in its alders, she fills with happy sound. 
For, pushing from its folding leaf, the bloodroot lifts its head, 
In starry companies it crowds the turf beneath her tread. 

It lights the budding coppice, it troops beside the brook. 
From grassy mound and hollow, she meets its upward look. 
Low bending, now, to gather one, she pauses in dismay ; 
Within her hand it seems to bleed its fragile life away. 

And while she holds it, pitying, there comes a piercing cry — 
Some bird from out the marshes — but she draws a troubled sigh, 
And her quickened thought goes searching, till it flashes to her mind 
How the stumbling class in Virgil read a marvel of this kind — 

She listening dreamily to how the cornel thicket bled. 
And so the good /Eneas knew where Priam's son lay dead, 
"For I am Polydorus," the voice came from the ground, 
"Far from the land that bore me, slain by a treacherous wound " — 

"O that was all a story and very long ago, 
I wonder, X) I wonder why ;;/y flower is bleeding so ! " 
And swifdy comes the answer : from out its mossy bed. 
She draws, to meet the light once more — an Indian arrowhead. 

O, white and brave and hardy the flov/er within whose veins 
The vigorous blood springs upward when the winds awake the plains ! 
The moss may veil the headstone on the ancient burial-hill — 
The bloodroot tells its story to children's children still. 



Address hj John E. Russell. 411 

The children of John and Phillip remembered their Connecticut 
relations ; they thought of the land of their mothers, as the Israel- 
ites in the wilderness thought of the leeks and onions of Egypt 
and went where they could see them grow ; hence another John 
Russell, born in Wethersfield in 1731, came back to the rich val- 
leys of the Connecticut and the Deerfield in 1756, and in 1758 
married Hannah Sheldon, great-aunt of the historian of this 
region. 

Hence all their descendants are as much Sheldon as Russell, 
and proud of a stock which goes back to the beginnings of Deer- 
field. This John Russell's short and busy life is a matter of record 
in his account books now in the Memorial Hall and in Sheldon's 
History. He died leaving his young widow and five children just 
at the opening of the War of Independence. Hannah Sheldon 
reared her children successfully. Her son John, a thoughtful, re- 
ligious youth all his life, respected as a citizen and beloved as a 
peacemaker, had a singular opportunity to learn a valuable trade 
at home. 

The storm of war about Boston drove Isaac Parker, a skill- 
ful gold and silversmith, who was also an engraver, to the distant 
safety of Deerfield to pursue his trade and secure his stock. He 
taught John Russell to work in precious metals and John went to 
Northampton to settle in his trade. 

There in 1794 he married Electa, daughter of Nathaniel Ed- 
wards and Ruth Strong, and came back to the new and thriving 
town of Greenfield. This part of Hampshire County was rapidly 
growing. Cheapside was the head of navigation on the Deerfield 
River ; all heavy goods like iron, salt, molasses, sugar, rum and 
imported goods generally, came up the Connecticut in flat 
bottom boats which took back cargoes of shingles, stoves, hops, 
brooms, pine lumber and some farm produce. The region was al- 
ready petitioned to be set off as a new county, with Greenfield as 
the shire town. 

About the time that John Russell moved to Greenfield, there 
came many enterprising men ; among them were Col. William 
Moore, Beriah and Reuel Willard, Jerome Ripley, Jonathan Leav- 
itt, Richard E. Newcomb, Thomas Chapman, Samuel Pierce, Am- 
brose Ames and other notable citizens ; and a society was forming 
which made Greenfield a good place for business and a pleasant 
place of residence. 

John RusseU here began a successful life ; in addition to the us- 



Address hy George Sheldon. 441 

instrumental in the erection of the first, and possibly not of the 
second ; but our record in that direction can certainly be estab- 
lished from the date of the field meeting here in 1872. The 
marble column erected by a venerable citizen of Hinsdale, in mem- 
ory of a tragic event in the old French War, was the direct result 
of words heard from the platform on that day, and an officer of 
our Association was consulted as to its erection, its site, its char- 
acter and inscription. Another result of that meeting was the 
rediscovery, so to speak, and the restoration of the inscription on 
Belden's Rock, now happily preserved forever. It is also certain 
that the study of the " History of Northfield " and its pubhcation 
grew out of that same meeting. So much we may modestly claim 
for our two-year-old in the new line of labor to which it had been 
called. I will not dwell upon our subsequent career which he who 
runs may read. How far the erection of the monuments we now 
meet to dedicate may be due to the influence of that meeting 
or that history, none can say but that public-spirited woman 
who has made this day's work possible, a woman to whom 
the citizens of Northfield and our Association will always owe a 
debt of gratitude. Long may she live to enjoy the work of her 
hands. Should her pious and patriotic example have its proper 
effect, and the ratio of increase continue, Northfield, before the 
next quarter-centennial meeting, will earn the name of the " Mon- 
umental town." After to-day it will, perhaps, have no rival in this 
field except Lexington and Concord. 

Your children and your children's children will read the brief 
inscriptions cut upon the stones you now erect and they cannot 
fail to be incited thereby to a study of your local history — and 
local history is the true foundation of all history. The local events 
revealed in the recent explorations of buried Greece, Egypt and 
Babylon are to-day the center of historical interest throughout the 
whole civilized world. Men watch to see whether the newly dis- 
covered records confirm the ancient written accounts, or whether 
they compel their rewriting. When your descendants read that 
" on this plain Capt. Richard Beers and his men were surprised by 
the Indians, Sept. 4, 1675," they see the whole story of that 
bloody event epitomized. They get glimpses of the march, the 
ambush, the consternation, the slaughter, and the barbarous work 
of the red devils after the victory. To them it will be a slide 
which they will naturally seek to enlarge by the historical stere- 
opticon. 



Colrain^s Early Days. 521 

duced the most strenuous endeavor to embrace every opportunity 
looking to the advancement of the lot of their children beyond that 
enjoyed by themselves ; and this has been true in all the succeeding 
generations. The signers of this immortal document were " mother- 
taught," by the light of the stars perhaps, or when the day's cares 
were ended, by the evening firelight at the ingle-side. 

On August 4, 1 71 8, five small ships anchored at the foot of 
State Street, Boston, then a city containing perhaps twelve thou- 
sand inhabitants, having on board one hundred and twenty families 
of Scotch-Irish people, or as has been estimated seven hundred 
and fifty persons, though I am prepared to believe that to be an 
under estimate. This company mainly settled in Londonderry, 
N. H., and the adjacent towns of Antrim, Chester and Windham, 
becoming the largest and most important Scotch-Irish settlement 
in New England, and with them the people of this town were in- 
timately associated during all the subsequent years, others of them 
settling for a time at least in Worcester. 

They had emigrated largely from Colrain, Ballymoney and the 
adjacent towns of the Bann water valley, and were descendants of 
the Covenanters ; though others came from Antrim and descended 
from those who came there at the first colonization of Ulster in 
1610. 

Of the names on this memorial, five have especial local interest. 
There may perhaps have been others, but these five are recognized 
as having been later settlers here and many of their descendants 
still reside here. The names are John Anderson, James Wilson, 
John Clark, James Stewart and Wm. Caldwell, 

In the autumn following their arrival some fifty families moved 
up to Worcester with a view to settling there. The third attempt 
to effect a permanent settlement there was at this time about five 
years old, and the Indians who in the two previous attempts had 
proved a serious hindrance were again becoming troublesome, so 
that the brave and stalwart emigrants who had " kept the pass " 
in Ulster, were made welcome, though not long after they are re- 
ferred to even by a formal act of the General Court of Massachu- 
setts as "poor Irish people," and subsequent deeds of intolerance 
toward them have left a deep stain upon the boasted charity of 
this venerable Commonwealth. It was Puritan versus Covenanter, 
a case of religious intolerance exercised against a people religiously 
their equal in all essential respects, though presumably lacking ia 
social status and worldly possessions. 



554 



Index. 



Avery Amos, 144, 50. 

Clark, 503, 4. 

Jonathan, 144. 

Samuel, 150. 

Walter T., 117. 

"William, 151. 
Ayers, Samuel, 534. 

Babbitt, Isaac, 142. 
J. H., 363, 4. 
Bacon, Francis, 76. 

R., 143- 
Badlam, Ezra, 108. 
Bailey, Urania S., 212. 
Baker, C. Alice, 2-4, 43, 45, 
65,84, 116,56,75.95. 
7, 230, 97, 99, 326, 7, 
35. 51, 67, 407, 68, 71, 
539- 

Daniel, 312. 
Baker, Edward, 383. 

Edwin, 539. 
Baldwin, Loami, 18. 
Ball, Arthur W., 472. 

Arthur W., Jr., 472. 

Emery, 304. 

Frances W., 472. 
Ballard, Eliza, 133. 

James, 48, 133. 

Jonathan, 494. 

Josiah, 132. 

Philip, 311. 

Samuel, 144. 

William, 133. 
Bancroft, George, 336, 536. 
Bannister, D. K., 143. 
Barber, Moses, 132. 

Stillman, 89, 96. 
Bardwell, Apollos, 15. 

Ebenezer, 14. 

Eldad, 243. 

Enoch, 306. 

E. S., 449. 

Gideon, 306. 

Jarvis B., 13, 14,18,43. 
Bardwell, Oscar, 255. 

Robert, 305, 6. 

Samuel D., 14, 18, 299, 

317, 19- 

Samuel, 305, 6, 12, 

Warren, 299, 305, 17. 
Barker, Elizabeth, 299, 332, 

Eunice, 332. 

James M., 495. 

Joseph, 331. 

Stephen W., 299, 301, 2. 
Barnard, A. L., 137. 

Allen, 133, 51. 

John, 87. 

Joseph, 87, 243. 

Joseph, 243. 

Joseph, 87. 

Samuel, 118. 

Sarah J., 87, 8. 



Barnes, Maria B., 85. 
Barnet, The, 126, 7, 279. 
Bartlett, Abigail, 6. 

Edgar, 318. 

E. L., 296. 

George B., 45, 64, 275, 

84, 98, 397- 

J. F., 296, 8, 9, 320. 

Sidney, 55. 
Barrett, George P., 398. 
Barthrick, Jil, 312. 
Barton, Leonard, 176, 212. 
Bascom, Moses, 186. 
Basket, John, 331. 
Bassett, H., Jr., 141. 
Bates, Dr., 141. 
Beal, Capt., 11. 
Beals, Frank A., 251. 
Beaman, Hannah, 162. 

Ira, 497. 

John, 394. 

N. S., 49. 
Beaulac, Hertel de, 73. 
Beckwith, A. S., 413. 

Ebenezer, 132. 

Edward, 132. 
Becraft, Thomas, 4. 
Beecher, Henry W., 194. 
Beers Plain, 450. 

Richard, 44 1 , 9, 50, 5, 547 . 
Belcher, Jonathan, 374, 84, 

92. 
Belding, Aaron, 465. 

Daniel, 263, 371. 

Elijah, 440. 

Samuel, 263. 
Belleview, Mr., 151. 
Bemis, Robert R., 116. 
Benjamin, Caleb, 312. 
Bennet, Thomas, 10. 
Berkeley, Wilham, 170. 
Bernard, Francis, 97. 
Bernardston, 89, 94, 7, 103, 

428, 99. 
Bickford, William, 386. 
Billings, Ebenezer, 265. 

Edward, 265. 

Elijah, 492. 

Fanny, 472. 

Henry W., 155, 6, 214. 

William, 493. 
Birney, James G., 319. 
Bishop, Robert R., i, 43, 

2i;i, 398. 
Bissell, Gustavus, 317. 
Bixley, Rev. Mr., 137. 
Blanchard, William, 386. 
Bloody Brook, 260, 378, 

456- 

Boating on the Connecti- 
cut, 117. 

Boats, Fall, 122-24. 

Bodertha, Thomas, 383. 

Bolton, Hugh, 530. 



Bond, G. H., 367. 
Booth, Alfred, 274. 

H. C, 134. 

W. H., 130, 4. 
Bosworth, O. C, 143. 
Boundary Line, 464. 
Bourgeois, Marguerite, 346, 

7- 
Bouticon, J. C, 143. 
Bowker, Dr., 93. 
Bradford, Lewis, 151. 

William, 163. 
Bradley, Gen., 8. 

Richard, 388. 
Bradstreet, Simon, 458. 
Brattle, WiUiam, 381. 
Breckenridge, John C, 62. 
Bridges, 122, 269, 79. 
Bridgman, Orlando, 394. 
Briggs, Owen, 107. 
Brigham, Cephas, 318. 

NelUe J. T., 502, 4, 38. 
Bromfield, Henry, 402. 
Brook, John, 311. 
Brooks, Amos, 147, 9. 

Eliakim, 147. 

John, 93. 

Moses, 311. 

Nathaniel, 72. 

Silas N., 468. 
Broughton Family killed, 

263. 
Brown, Benoni, 107. 

Henry K., 226, 7. 

John, 40. 

Lorenzo, 440. 
Bryant, Chauncey, 137, 254, 

367- 
Buchanan, James, 60-2. 
Buckingham, Edgar, i, 5, 
43, 83, 116, 55, 273. 
Bull, John P., 75. 

Ole, 16. 

William, 75. 
Bunker Hill, 108, 44, 5,90. 
Burdick, John, 118. 
Burg, Catherine, 412. 
Burges, Benjamin, 53. 

Mary, 53. 
Burgoyne, John, 243, 7. 
Burke, John, 100-4, 6,7,9; 
life of, 428; 534. 

John, 429. 

Mehitable, 432, 3. 

Richard, 429. 
Burnham, Daniel, 312. 

EHsha, 106, 7, 9, 10. 

Josiah, 312. 
Burrington, Horace, 151. 
Burrows, F. B., 89. 

Nelson, 176. 
Burt, Asahel, 450, 65. 

Ithamar, 119. 
Buswell, Tessie, 472. 



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